John Jameson and Son

: Irish Distillers own two distilleries, Bushmills and the modern Midleton complex near Cork. Jameson are produced from whiskies distilled at these two distilleries.

From the back of the box.When John Jameson opened his distillery in Dublin in 1780 he was carrying on a tradition of whiskey making which had its origins in Ireland over a thousand years ago. Today Jameson Irish Whiskey is world famous for its distinctive flavour and smooth caracteristics. Triple distilled from the finest Irish barley and pure spring water and then matured in oak casks. Jameson carries the hallmark of quality which has made it the best selling Irish Whiskey around the world.

From Collins pocket reference :The arrival in Ireland of Scot John Jameson in the 1770s marked a significant new departure for the growing legal Irish whiskey industry.Jameson already had connections with the Scottish industry - he had even married into the Haig family - and his son consolidated the business by marrying a daughter of John Stein, whose family who were among the biggest grain distillers in Scotland and who owned Dublin's Bow Street distillery which Jameson Senior was soon to purchase.His exacting standards and aptitude for the business helped build his firm in the eighteenth century and into the nineteenth. Although own-label sales were still a concept of the future, Jameson's whiskey, sold through merchants, acquired the reputation, with Power's, of being the best of Irish.

A short cut/re-written from The Scotch Whisky Book by Mark Skipworth :In the 18th century one of the five sons of John Haig, Andrew Haig went into partnership with a member of the Jameson family who went on to become famous in Irish distilling.

From The World Guide to Whisky, By Michael Jackson (Modified) :The most Irish of whiskeys are the pot still products, matured for long periods in sherry casks, from Jameson of Dublin. Jameson has been known in the past to mature whiskeys for more than 20 years and some of these products were used in blends which may still be found here and there. However none bears the legend 20 years old, since such a blend would also contain younger whiskeys.There is also a splendidly smooth, mellow Irish which is a blend of very well matured Jameson Whiskys, the youngest being 12 years old, under the Redbreast label. The whiskeys are from Jameson but the brand is bottled and distributed by another respected house, the Irish branch of Gilbey's.A much less hefty, but still mellow - entusiasts say "sophisticated" - blend of pot still whiskeys, again matured in sherry casks, in produced by Jameson under the name Crested Ten label.None of these whiskeys is widely found outside Ireland. The regular Jameson Irish Whiskey, the best known and most widely sold product of the house, also has a pronounced pot still character, although its component distillates are younger and generally lighter. It is matured in charred American Oak. This is the favourite whiskey in the Dublin area and the most widely sold in the United States.As his surname suggests, John Jameson was Scot - his wife was a member of the Haig whisky family - but he moved to Dublin in the 1770s and quickly won reputation as a demanding perfectionist in the production of Irish. Another Scottish distilling family, the Steins, had their Dublin distillery taken over by a Jameson as the dynasty established itself in Ireland. Eventually, the Jameson owned a number of distilleries in Ireland and had two million gallons of whisky maturing under the streets of Dublin.Members of the family are still involved in the business, though in 1966 Jameson became a part of the newlyformed Irish Distillers Group.The Jameson headquarters, in dour grey stone, with Georgian, Victorian and more recent buildings, now house Irish Distillers' office in Dublin, along with a smal but interesting museum called Irish Whiskey Corner and a bar-style tasting room, "The Ball of Malt".Jameson, in Bow Street, near Smithfield fruit market and the river Liffey, used to look across at its neighbour and great Dublin rival, the John Power distillery. Then, for a time, production of Jameson shifted to Power's premises before the structuring of Irish Distillers was completed.Although Jameson whiskeys are still vatted in Dublin, production begins at the group's distilleries elsewhere in Ireland; the old sites in the city had become just too congested.

OLD BUSHMILLS :

From the book 'The Scottish Collection' Classic Malts by Carol P. Shaw :Old Bushmills glories in the status of the oldest licensed distillery in the world. It is though that distilling may have begun on the site as early as the thirteenth century, but the first permit was granted by James VI and I to Sir Thomas Phillipps, a local landowner, in 1608. The site was especially well suited for its purpose, standing on the banks of St Columb's Rill, or stream, which flowed over the nearby peaty ground and into the River Bush, and which still provides the distillery with its fresh water supplies today. Belying its antiquity, Old Bushmills is distinctly Victorian-Speyside in appearance - a legacy of its rebuilding and the addition of its pagoda towers after a devastating fire in 1885. Although no longer in use, the tower remain the distinctive landmark of a distinguished distillery.

The Old Bushmill's can glory with the title 'The oldest licensed distillery in the world'.The license was granted in 1608 to Sir Thomas Phillips who were a local landowner.It was founding as a company in 1783 but local competition of legal and illegal distillers made the competition hard making the Bushmills to close and re-opened several times.It revived under the ownership of the Boyd family, but again under the second world war it moved inevitably from being a family concern through a succession of larger, corporate buyers until in 1972 it joined the Irish Distillers Group. Irish Distillers Group were the bought by Pernod Ricard Group at the end of the 1980's.

Rip from www.whiskypages.comThe year 1608. Shakespeare had already written Macbeth. The explorer John Smith became president of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America. It was an era of Milton and Galileo. And it was the year that Bushmills distillery was granted a license to distill whiskey. Today, 389 years later, the Bushmills distillery is still producing whiskey.It is now the oldest operating licensed distillery in the world.Records actually show that whiskey was distilled, and consumed, at the site much earlier than 1608. Sir Robert Savage, ground landlord of the town of Bushmills, was known to have fortified his troops with "aqua vitae" (whiskey) in 1276. And the Book of Leinster mentions a feast in the town of Bushmills back in 1490 where the local spirit helped to "down the food."It is quite remarkable that anything lasts nearly four centuries, let alone a distillery. Throughout the years it has endured fires, wars, U.S . Prohibition, and multiple owners-from Seagram, Irish Distillers Group, and Pernod Ricard. Not only is Bushmills the world's oldest licensed distillery, it is also the only operating whiskey distillery in Northern Ireland.With more than a dozen active distilleries in the early 1900s, the amount was reduced to three by the mid 1900's. The Comber distillery closed in 1953, and the Coleraine distillery stoped making malt whiskey in the mid-1960s, and closed down completely in 1978.The Bushmills distillery is located on the edge of the town of Bushmills in Country Antrim, about an hour's drive north of Belfast and a short distance from the coast. The town itself is small and quaint, with two streets connecting in the center of the town to form a 'T'. There you'll find a small war memorial, a clock tower, and several small shops.The distillery is two miles from the Giant's Causeway, described as the eighth natural wonder of the world. Its impressive vista of regular shaped stone outcrops of black basalt formed nearly 60 million years ago from the slow cooling of volcanic lava.Mythical legend describes the causeway as a passage across the Channel to Scotland so that the Irish giant Finn McCool could cross the water without getting his feet wet. Also near the distillery is Portrush, a highly acclaimed championship golf course, and Dunluce Castle, which sits along the coastline impressively perched on a rock outcrop since around the year 1300.

Other rips :The Bushmills distillery, in the little town of the same name was licensed by King James I (and James IV / Red.) in 1608. It is the world's oldest licensed malt distillery though its single malt was launched only in the mid 1980s. There are three labels - "Bushmills Malt", a de luxe blend partner "Black Bush" and a regular "Old Bushmills". They are all triple distilled.

There's lots of info about Bushmill's on other whisky related sites, seek your self or try some links on the buttom of this page.

From the Whisky pilot by Uniqum Systems :Bushmills was granted a licence to distil in 1608, making it by far the earliest legal distillery of all. Operated by Irish Distillers which, in 1988, was the target of a hard fought take-over battle between British giant Grand Metropolitan and French rival Pernod Ricard, which the latter won.Bushmills is triple distilled, although it is not alone in this respect. Auchentoshan, Rosebank and Benrinnes also use forms of triple distillation. Bushmills is also available in duty- free markets at 43% vol.Irish whisky is unpeated, unlike most Scotch whisky.Irish Distillers own two distilleries, Bushmills and the modern Midleton complex near Cork. Irish blends such as Jameson, Original Bushmills, Black Bush, Powers, Paddy and Tullamore Dew are produced from whiskies distilled at these two distilleries.In 1920, there were 23 distilleries in Ireland and 134 in Scotland.The distillery is situated near the Giant's Causeway on the north coast of Ulster.Water is drained from the Saint Columb's Rill. The distillery is open to the public all year. April to Octobeer, M-S 9.30am-5.30pm, S 12noon- 5.30pm.(Last tour 4.00 pm each day)Off Season : M-F 6 tours daily, 10.00am, 11.00am, 12 noon, 1.30pm, 2.30pm and 3.30pm sharp.

Coleraine distillery limitedNot operational anymore, but visitors are welcome at Old Bushmills where Colerain whiskey is produced.Phone : 01265-731521

Founded :

Distilling had going on in the Coleraine area since early 17'th century, although Coleraine distillery itself didn't become operational until over 200 years later.

Owner :

Old Bushmills Distillery.Bushmills Co. Antrim.

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At one time, the grain whiskey came from the now extinct Coleraine distillery near Bushmills, and it was comprised mostly of barley (something which is unusual for a grain whiskey, which is usually produced with maize or wheat).The Coleraine distillery stoped making malt whiskey in the mid-1960s, and close down completely in 1978.Other sources says Coloraine's own distillery closed in the early 1980s.

From the book 'The Scottish Collection' Classic Malts by Carol P. Shaw :Previously one of the most respected of Ireland's distilleries, Coleraine fell victim to the decline and rationalisation of the Irish whiskey industry this century. Distilling had been going on in the Coleraine area since the early seventeenth century, although the distillery itself did not become operational until over two hundred years later. Its reputation was high in the later nineteenth century, to the extent that Coleraine supplied whiskey to the House of Commons, subsequently selling their product under the name of ' Old Irish HC'. But like so many Irish distilleries, Coleraine suffered badly in the twentieth century, eventually being bought by the owners of Bushmills. Production continued very intermittently, latterly in grain whiskey, until closure came in 1978.